Once or twice a year a new Larry Correia title hits the shelves and for a brief, shimmering moment everything is right in the world. In this case the title is ALLIANCE OF SHADOWS, Book 3 in Larry’s Dead Six collaboration with Mike Kupari. I wasn’t overly fond of DEAD SIX, the first book in the series, but SWORDS OF EXODUS won me over and I’ve been waiting three excruciating years for the conclusion to the trilogy. In typical Correia fashion ALLIANCE OF SHADOWS does not disappoint. (more…)

Tak does not lead a normal life. As a sort of Asian-American version of Man vs Wild he’s spent his life adventuring all over the world. At the opening of THE BEAUTIFUL LAND we discover that life isn’t going the way he planned. In the middle of a suicide attempt, Tak gets a fateful call that will give him a new purpose in life. (more…)

James and his wife Linda are scientists at the famous biotech company GeneFirm, where they’ve engineered a gene therapy that will eradicate cancer as we know it. But the world’s population may not get the chance to enjoy a cancer-free future when a deadly supervirus outbreak becomes a world-wide pandemic. (more…)

I’ve been suffering a bit of a reading slump of late. I’ve got plenty of awesome material to pick from and a complete and utter lack of motivation to read. Maybe it’s the summer heat? Regardless, NEXUS by Ramez Naam has shattered that lethargy and cleansed it in napalm. Optioned for a film by Paramount and Darren Aronofsky, NEXUS is probably the best book of 2012 that I’ve read in 2013. It’s a perfect summer beach read, a stimulating near-future thriller loaded with equal amounts action and speculation. NEXUS offers human characters, real (scary) science, and deep ethical dilemmas. This fiction debut is the contemporary evolution of cyberpunk: the future isn’t about virtual reality but augmented reality. Pardon my drooling, I had a blast reading this. (more…)

REAMDE is the second Neal Stephenson novel I have read, the first being the all time geek classic SNOWCRASH. Unlike SNOWCRASH and, from what I understand, the majority of Stephenson’s other works, REAMDE is a pretty contemporary affair. Fans of irreverent, pop-culture laden science fiction will be disappointed in no small degree. Those looking for a fast paced thriller, on the other hand, may want to give REAMDE a chance. (more…)